Fred Brostoff

While driving today, I heard the following (linked) song....and I was reminded that, as teenagers in the early 1960's, we felt that people who were "64" were way over the hill.  I have to admit that my feelings about that have changed.

Love to hear your comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHyYqoSXztk

Janet Bos (Lefevre)

William Wanlund

Fred - we were right then, and we're right now

Vernon Neece (Neece)

Longevity was not in the Neece genes.  Both of my paternal grandparents died in their early 50s.  I never new them.  My dad a short time after his 58th birthday.  I was a senior in college.  Once I reached that age I felt like I have been llving on borrowed time.  I will be 79 next week.

Vernon Neece (Neece)

Curious as to how classmates experienced the blizzard of January 1967.  I was in college in Greenville, IlL and had broken my foot.  I didn't go home for semester break.  Classmates who went home to the Chicago area took 12-18 hours to drive the normal 6 hour trip.

Rosemary Burg (Heilemann)

Since you asked, Vernon, about our memories of the snow of '67, I was living at home with my mom and sister in an apartment near Howard Street while I attended Northwestern. I worked part-time at Stouffer's retaurant in Old Orchard and always took the bus.  When the snow really started getting bad, they closed the restaurant and sent us home. My bus got stuck somewhere not far from Old  Orchard, and I walked all the way home to Howard Street. I was dressed for the weather and I know I walked for a long time and I didn't seem to mind because it was so surreal. Ah, youth!    I think it was not particularly cold or windy; it just snowed, and snowed, and snowed. The next morning, it was amazing to see abandoned buses and cars just littered all over Howard Street, facing all different directions. Again, because I was young, it all seemed like a big adventure. I do remember the news pointing out, correctly, that people were very helpful to each other the first day or two, but tempers began to flare and people started being pretty cranky by the third day.  It took SO long to clear the streets.  Coincidentally, my late son, Kurt, was born on day of the biggest snowfall since that one which occurred on the same date, Jan. 26, in 1978. That storm soon was forgotten after the record-breaking accumulation of 1979. It was so long ago, but I remember it as if it were last week. 

Thomas Starck

Rosemary Burg (Heilemann)

And, to Fred, as for age 64, it does seem young to me, now.  It is the beginning of a chapter with the health issues of a worn-out body, but all the advantages of experience and wisdom earned the hard way.  And, if we are lucky, we have more free time to spend as we wish. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who either spent a lot time helping their children and grandchildren, and/ or aging parents, and/ or sick spouses, and/or had their own health issues.  So, 64 can be a time of great stress. It seems like 79 has fewer demands, which means we have to remind ourselves to keep busy so we don't fade away. And, we have to make plans for our next chapter, while we have some control. 

Arthur Hallstrom

In the 67 snowstore I was with a few of my KDR brothers on a ski trip to a resort in Traverse City Mich. We started back to school at U of Ill in Champaign when the snow hit. We got off the main roads and eventually got "stuck" in the little town of Lansing, right on the Ill/Ind border. We stayed in a motel room. Quite a few people, maybe 40, were stuck in Lansing. The snow was so high we could ski from proches and one roof. The only theater in town was showing the Blue Max. We saw it many times (no internet, cell pjones back then)  for free and once  in reverse. The few restaurants in town (just 2 or 3) opened up one at a time and served food until they ran out of food then the next one opened. We got out after 3 days. Still reminder it many many years later. 

Charles Whitcomb

Vernon,

I was  a student at Northern Illinois University and was working in the TV studio and had no idea what was happening outside. When I finally came out of the studio and looked outside my Volswagen was buried to the top of the roof. Fortunatrly I had keys to the cafeteria and all the storage. So I just settled in and spent a couple of days inside.

Vernon Neece (Neece)

My younger sister was in high school and workiing part-time as a toll operator for Ill. Bell Telephone.  They needed her so they transported her to and from work in 1 of their large service trucks.

Nancy Schroeder

I was working for Eastern Airlines in reservations at the Merchandise Mart up on the top floor .Eastern had half  of it and NBC had the other half of the building. I woke up that lovely cold clear sunny morning with 23inches of snow on the ground. It was Jan 27, 1967 that i tried to go to work. Jan 26  was when it just snowed for hours and no one could drive or do anything and got buried in snow. Wrapped in a heavy coat, lots of clothes on, boots, gloves and scarf and climbed over the drifts from my home on Michigan ave in Evanston. The city had plowed the streets but it still had about 10 inches stacked on the ground. I walked to Main street a block away  which had been plowed and up to the El station on Chicago ave. That took about 30 minutes walking in the middle of the street which han no traffic.There were about 5 people trying to get into the city at the station. We all waited about 30-45 minutes for the El to take the trip to Howard street.. It was very slow going because the snow covered the rails. In 1967 there was the A amd B staiona but when a train came in on this day it stopped at every station due to the snow. I think it took me 2 hours to get to the Mart which left us off at the 2nd floor which was normal. 

In the huge reservation open area where we sat and took calls, there was a 4 foot light fixture on the wall with colors from Green to light yellow to dark yellow to orange and then red. These lights represented the number of calls waiting to be answered. That day it was solid red the whole time. Not much we could do because the airport was closed and every thing was still. Those who made it to work were paid to stay at the Holiday Inn across the street . It would take us for ever to get home just to come back. So we all wore the same clothes and got what we needed at the Walgreens on the first floor of the Mart. It was a fun time. Eastern paid for everything , hotel, food and then things got back to somewhat normal.  But you did remember this storm.

Nancy Schroeder

Judith Sheahan (Lindgren)

During the blizzard of January 1967, I was a junior at Northern IL University and returned to campus a couple of days early after the final exams break. I think I made it back to school just hours before the snow began. My boyfriend at the time, now my husband of 57 years, had not yet left home and was stranded in Chicago.

So what did I do on a college campus with no classes and no boyfriend nearby to accompany me on romatic walks through drifts of snow? My girl friends and I walked to a lot of parties with other early birds and when walking back to our dorm one night, I decided to rest on a snowbank thinking it was a comfy place to take a nap. I remember my friend told me to get up--saving me from certain hypothermia but I do not remember any other details. Hmmm...wonder why?

My competitive husband still insists that Chicago had more snow than DeKalb and says I cannot claim to have survived the great blizzard of '67. Maybe Chicago won by an inch or two. While granting him this win, I've always remembered I had fun those few days while behaving as a reprobate. And, I am very glad I survived whatever misbehavior I committed. (As you can imagine, I never shared this story with my parents, or come to think of it, my husband. After all, remembering very few details, I had nothing to share.)

Judith Myerson (Laitman)

I was at Northwestern and I think that was the first time they ever called off classes.  I helped my dad dig out our VW bug so that we could deliver prescriptions from my familly pharmacy to people who desperately needed them.  There were three of us in the car driving all over Skokie and Evanston.  We were able to lift the car out of snow when we got stuck.  I loved that snow.

Susan Holsten (Blumer)

Great tales of this storm/ blizzard. Great job writing this informative piece of history. Thanks Nancy!

Muriel Evens

I was returning to Chicago from a semester in Germany and Israel. My flight was due in on that Sunday from Dublin, via Boston. My final destination was Bloomington, IN, as my father had a job transfer to southern Indiana. Their plan was to come up and visit family, pick me up and head black to Bloomington. They had to cancel their drive to Skokie due to obvious travel issues, but called my aunt to ask her to get me at O'Hare. Her response was that they couldn't get the car out of the garage, let alone drive anywhere. So my father had to contact Aer Lingus. When I arrived in Boston, totally unaware of anything, I was met with a rerouting, to D.C, then to Akron, Ohio. I had no idea where Akron was, or Bloomington, but my father drove 3+ hours that Sunday night to get me at midnight in Akron, then turn around and drive back to Bloomington. Best dad ever.

Arthur Hallstrom

Meery Christmas and Happy Holidays.  The production team is working on the "80th Birthday Memories Video"  for next year's Sept ETHS reunion. We are getting pictures from 'then and now' with the help of current students and the Communications  Dept.  Some classmates mention a place called the Birdcage. What or where was it? The current ETHS staff person does not know either. Anyone remember? 

Sherwin "Jay" Siegall

The Bird Cage was the Parking Lot covered outdoor entrance area  on the West Side (parking lot) of the school. For those who remember Sargent Eichler directed traffic there. A major drop off area for students being driven to school. 

Sherwin "Jay" Siegall

At the West end of the middle H hallway

Rosanne Bass (Keynan)

Clearly, we needn't worry about Jay/Sherwin Siegall having age-related memory issues, lol!

Arthur Hallstrom

That explains why i di not know it. Never got a ride to school. Was to close to school.  Is this picture the birdcage location today?

west side near gym. 

Arthur Hallstrom

Hi. Any idea where this recent picture was taken? In the outdoor classroom construction area. 

Thomas Starck

Linda Schwartz (Ludwig)

Junior year I wrote an article for our school newspaper about the Birdcage.

i described the different groups of friends that hung out at each of the entrances.

Anyone remember being with friends at the Birdcage?

Susan Spiegel (Pastin)

I remember meeting friends at the Birdcage, and I remember it as glass and metal and I think the metal was aqua colored.   It doesn't look like the picture in here of what I suspect is probably a newer west entrance.  I don't remember if there was seating around the perimeter of the Birdcage or not.  Maybe a wooden bench?